Inside The Bills

Recent mock drafts by ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Todd McShay both had one of the top two guards projected to the Bills in their respective mock drafts. However, Bills GM Buddy Nix didn’t sound all that anxious to take North Carolina’s Jonathan Cooper or Alabama’s Chance Warmack with the eighth overall pick despite his respect for the skill sets of those players.

When asked if the free agent losses of Andy Levitre and Chad Rinehart left them in a situation where they felt compelled to take one of the top two guards, who many feel are fitting of top 10 value, Nix said he did not.

“Not at all. Not at all,” said Nix. “I know people have said we’re taking one of those top two guards. Our roster in house is better than I think we get credit for especially offensive line. We’re pretty deep there. We’ve got six guards and we think a couple of them can play. Now having said all that before you write that we’re not going to take a guard at number eight, it’s hard to pass up two players like the old boy at Alabama and the kid at North Carolina. Both of those are great players so you have to give that a lot of thought when they come up.”

Still, Nix went on to say that if they got through the draft without taking a guard they wouldn’t be in a panic situation. So it sounds like even though the grade and value on Cooper or Warmack might fit for pick 8, the Bills aren’t keenly interested in landing one of them at that point in the draft.